Monday, May 07, 2007

The good news just keeps on comin'! I just got word that the first 0DFx (Zero Defex) 7 inch vinyl EP is now available from GET REVENGE RECORDS. This record contains the demo we recorded in 1983 at a studio called The Island in North Royalton, Ohio. The guy who ran it was a total Neil-from-the-Young-Ones type hippie dude whose studio was decorated with all kinds of medieval swords and suits of armor and stuff. But the music is pure speedy thrashy hardcore in the style of Minor Threat and Negative Approach with a bit of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. For more about 0DFx as well as some samples of what's on the record GO HERE. It took 24 years to get it released. But here it is! Order yours today! In a month or so Get Revenge will bring out a second 7 incher containing another demo we did about 6 months prior to this one. And a couple months from now the contents of both 7 inch records plus a live show from 1982 and some recordings we did at our 2005 reunion will be available on a double CD.

And just so nobody forgets the stuff I posted yesterday, here it is again (thanks to Jinzang for help with the links):

Also, there will be no Zazen class at Hill Street Center on Saturday May 12th cuz I will be in Japan.

AND, yesterday I got profiled for a story in the June issue of LA YOGA magazine. So look for that next month. They took loads of pictures and did a nice interview.

AND, an excerpt from SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP! will appear in WHOLE LIFE TIMES magazine in June as well. WHOLE LIFE TIMES is an LA based mag. But they're also affiliated with CONSCIOUS CHOICE magazine in Chicago and Seattle, and with COMMON GROUND magazine in San Francisco. So I think the excerpt will appear in those magazines as well.

AND on Sunday May 20th at midnight I'll be a guest on the SUICIDE GIRLS RADIO SHOW on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles. I'm pretty sure this is avialable on the Internets and as a Podcast as well if you're not in SoCal.

AND on May 23rd I'll be a guest on a radio show called THE GOOD LIFE with host JESSE DYLAN at 10:15 Pacific Time/1:15 Eastern. That's also on Sirius Sattelite Radio. My dad's got one of those in his car. So I hope he listens.

AND Saturday June 2nd, 2007 at 7 PM I'll be in Phoenix at the ARIZONA ZEN BUDDHIST SOCIETY giving A TALK (click for details & location). So be there or be square! I'm doing two other book signings in Phoenix on that Sunday (June 3rd) and Monday (June 4th). But I can't seem to find the details. I'll either revise this post or put up a new one when I get that info.

AND I'll be all over the San Francisco Bay Area the following week. Here's what's lined up so far:

I'll put up more details as I get them. Basically book signings tend to start at 7 PM, so I'm guessing that'll be the time for most of these. The After Dinner Talk is a regular thing at the SF Zen Center, so probably if you look on their website there'll be info.

I'm also working on possible gigs in Boulder, New York City, Akron and Montreal. So I'll let you know how that goes.

for those who prefer to avoid such surprises, I want to let you know that when you click on ginger's name to view her profile, it takes you to a porn site. To be clear, I am referring to the second comment on this thread.

Your band was mentioned in the movie American Hardcore...but I'm sure that you know this by now. It's interesting to see how some of those band have changed over the years, and even more interesting to see that some of them are still active.

They make the mistake of describing "Old Path White Clouds" as "Universally acknowledged as the world’s authoritative book on Buddhism", an easy mistake to make since in most religions a book about the founder's life story would be the most book important. This press release was written by movie people, French movie people at that. Give 'em a break.

Hopefully they'll prove Brad wrong and make a good movie about the Buddha's life.

"for those who prefer to avoid such surprises, I want to let you know that when you click on ginger's name to view her profile, it takes you to a porn site. To be clear, I am referring to the second comment on this thread."

I want more dementia 13 stuff. I wish you would sell cds of the d13 stuff and the odfx stuff on here. i want it!

oh well. i'll wait for the double cd. you should come to new orleans! I've got the perfect venue for you as well. the iron rail book collective. they host spoken word events by people like jello biafra. you should look into it.

Hi - I'm reading your book and loving it. I read Hardcoare Zen like a gazillion times. At least.

Come to NYC! We like readings, too.

(Oh, and if anyone's reading this and can recommend some good place to practice here in the city I'd really appreciate it. Everything I can find is concerned with enlightenment and reincarnation and a bunch of stuff like that which I honestly just don't care about. - thanks!)

So, no, sorry but I just don't. If that makes me a bad, whatever, then so be it.

Honestly, I care more about going home right now and doing my laundry and cleaning the bathroom and taking my dogs to the park. (One fun thing and 2 unfun things but they all gotta be done.)

Basically I just want someplace where I can practice and not be expected to believe in reincarnatio nor worrying about what it all "means," so again, any suggestions are most welcome (there's a place in my neighborhood right down the street but it's all about preparing yourself for enlightenment and working through koans and that's just not me).

although I personally didn't like a technique that was taught in that school, of "labeling your thoughts".

I spoke to a Zen master here in Tucson, named Pat Hawk Roshi, who is a very cool dude, and told him about my practice with "labeling my thoughts" and he agreed it can be effective but then added in his yoda-like voice "but it's not Zen".

who knows.

anyway, Barry Magid in NYC is an extremely insightful fellow and offers very down-to-earth practice.

i think jule meant they dont care about achieving some kind of mystical state where evrything is perfect and they are free from suffering etc. that definition of enlightenment is stupid and anyone who cares about chasing it will be disappointed i think.

anonymous (right above me) - you are absolutely correct. Thank you for articulating more clearly what I think of all that stuff (of course I'm on here at work and so am having to type out thoughts in between "working" - that's my excuse, anyway)

Everyone thank you so so much for all the suggestions. I'm going to do a little internet research.

I actually have a couple of questions about the ID project, the group that meets at Lila Yoga on Mon. & Wens. nights (I think that's it). I've been thinking of checking them out but can't really find anything concrete on their philosophy or practice or what-have-you. (anyone feel free to email directly if you're not comfortable posting about it here: julepandme@yahoo.com)

"i think jule meant they dont care about achieving some kind of mystical state where evrything is perfect and they are free from suffering etc. that definition of enlightenment is stupid and anyone who cares about chasing it will be disappointed i think."

Again, this is what most people think so Jule, and you, are in good company.

Hi aumeye - yeah, it is Julep, as in "Julep and me" - Julep being my old dog.

anyhoo -

what I'm more specifically looking for from all this (Buddhism, zen, whatever) is just a chance to learn some tools to live a more compassionate life and - especially living in NYC - to learn to deal with all the crap (by crap I mean things like the crowded subway (I hate you L train!), angry people (I think they hate the subway, too), 3 am revelers hanging out under my window when I'm trying to sleep - and so on. I think Buddhism and specifically zen is the best thing I've found to give me the tools to deal with this stuff and quite honestly, I don't personally know anyone else who's at all interested in this, that's why I'm looking for someplace to prace. And that's also why I'm looking for something that can help deal with stuff just as it's happening; I can't bothered worrying about something that may or may not happen at some point in time. I live in NYC - I don't have time for that!!!

Zen has spannered for centuries, there's a lot of old saws that illustrate it pretty well, perhaps you should let actual masters wrench people free. And you risk sounding like a nut, so please get your bolts tightened.

And I still need to buy your book..hmm that might be a good one for the upcoming holidays...!

I just wrote a very very short post on Buddha, Jezus and Mohammed...maybe a subject you could ponder over a bit on here? As you are more knowledgeable on the subject then I am (well at least on the Buddha part that is).You are of course also welcome to share your considerations on my post here.

""While it is true that Roger Corman wasknown for being able to grind out moviesvery quickly on very small budgets,this film is just plain terrible,rivaling "Plan 9" as being perhapsthe worst sci-fi film ever made.Even "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"had a better-looking spaceship!""

Corman once joked that "he could makea film about the fall of the Roman Empirewith just a couple of extras and a bush."

Julepandme, I get what you're looking for, it's what I looked for too. The group I sit with regularly is a pretty stripped-down form of Soto.

But give this a thought. I ran across a group led by a Thien guy (or Seon, I don't really know). He believes in literal rebirth, bunches of heavens and hells, actual hungry ghosts, and loads of other beliefs that I don't share. I sit, and that's pretty much the same wherever I go. But when he talks, I watch my mind, and how I react to all this stuff I disagree with. I've found it enlightening.

I just read your Suicide Girls column and it reminded me of something Chogyam Trungpa once said. He was talking about the accident that left him paralyzed on one side. When the doctors took him into the emergency room, they told him for some reason or other they couldn't give him anesthetic before they sewed him up. So, summing up, he said life is like a piece of gristle. You have to chew it and chew it before you swallow.

Anyway, whenever I run into hard times I think of that and it gives me some comfort.

Koudelka said... I've been toying with going to fire lotus temple in brooklyn, but in all honesty I can't be bothered with the monastic bullshit and the toolbox buddha fanboys. I just sit by myself at home, it's rad.

That is quite a cage you've put yourself in; you dismiss those who have dedicated their lives to practice, and then denigrate those who appear to fail to invoke that same serious dedication.

As a sometime practitioner at Fire Lotus, I can tell you that those who are less than diligent in their pursuit tend to self-select themselves into non-attendance after a time, so you needn't worry about 'fanboys' forcing you off your seat.

I do hope you find the answers you are looking for, though I would heartily recommend you take another look at the answers that are being given away pretty freely; the tradition exists because it works.

Thanks Anynomous for being my "knight in shining armour", but its ok. It sounded more like a true Brad koan to me than an offense. So now if this was a statement Brad...how do you know that I would not want to show you my boobies? Maybe I would love to show you them, but maybe I don't. I couldnt tell you as there is no truth you see.... ; )What might be a problem though is my ego, this might get in the way of you enjoying seeing the finest boobies ever!But maybe not as you are becoming one hell of a famous guy these days...

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